You Know My Name 

In 1860, the Swedish priest Gustav Beskow returned to Stockholm after a year traveling across Egypt and Palestine. Among the souvenirs he brought back was what he believed to be an ancient Egyptian princess.

You Know My Name retraces the displacement of this mummified child, currently on display at Medelhavsmuseet. Mistaken for a princess, the young boy may have died during the Roman era based on the remnants of gold on his face. His name remains unknown to us, and the cause of his death has long puzzled those examining his remains. Here, I imagine him recounting his long and unsettling journey to the only person he trusts to always remember his name: his mother.

Through song, ritual, and storytelling, I intertwine his story with ancient Egyptian prayers, believed to activate the protective powers of funerary amulets placed on the deceased during mummification. I seek to soothe the trauma of his uprooting through rituals of care: chanting prayers, placing amulets, and pouring wax to secure them. These gestures shield him from intrusive gazes while evoking the presence of his mother, who may have placed the amulets found between his wrappings. By collaborating with my mother, I hope her voice, reciting these prayers, may protect him far from home. To couple an act of care with critique, this work was installed at the Medelhavsmuseet together with an intervention: I covered the vitrines enclosing the child and two other mummified individuals, as well as the digital autopsy table presenting their scanned remains. By shrouding him —both in photographs and within the museum— I disrupt his public exhibition, inviting you to reconsider his display and virtual unwrapping while imagining instead gently placing amulets onto his fragile body.